How to set the iPhone 4S camera flash as an LED indicator for new messages

Just switch over to iPhone from BlackBerry or Android and wondering how to get an LED notification for new messages? While it's not quite the same things, with iOS 5 on the iPhone 4S or iPhone 4, you can take advantage of your camera flash as an indicator. If you find yourself missing messages due to not hearing the sounds, or would rather skip the noises and just see a light, check out a few simple steps to get yourself going.

Open your settings and scroll down to Accessibility.

Scroll to the middle and look for LED Flash for Alerts, and switch to on.

Just like that you can now take advantage of utilizing your LED from your camera as a message indicator for new incoming messages. Luckily you can easily switch the options off and on easily while on the go, so if you want to turn it off at any point you can without an issue.

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Reader comments

How to set the iPhone 4S camera flash as an LED indicator for new messages

Beware: Every time the phone is rebooted, it breaks the LED notifications. You'll have to go into the settings and turn the LED indicator off and back on again. It's an iOS 5 glitch that I'm sure Apple will fix with an update.

once again who puts there phone on its face another completely useless feature apple will call groundbreaking like siri that i had wayyyyyy before it was so awesome and no one ever talked about it isheep at its finest

If you think Siri is just like Android Voice Actions, you are sorely mistaken. It is quite obvious you haven't used it. Yes, AVA were way ahead of of the iPhone voice control until Siri was released. But now Siri has leapfrogged what Android has in that department. Yes, AVA can do much (but not even close to all) of what Siri can do...but it takes a lot more work, and a lot more syntax, and is nowhere near as useful as a result. Android has a lot of great things going for it, this just happens to not be one of them. Deal with it.
The LED notifications are pretty lame on the iPhone, though. Could be helpful if you're deaf, though (which is why it's in accessibility).

As a heavy user of AVA, I agree with this 100%. I find Siri a much more advanced implementation. One example is that I have to repeat exact syntax with AVA (it's voice actions rather than voice "interaction"). Siri maintains context and is closer to a conversation. If you don't say everything you need to get a request out with AVA, you have to do it over, or manually correct it. With Siri, if you leave out something, "she" will ask you for that information.
I find Siri absolutely delightful to use.

Had an iPhone now the 4S. Works great but I found the LED notification only works with text or phone not email. A while back I had a Droid and it had a multi color LED on the face. Much. Better idea not sure why Apple did not pick up on this one feature. I will live without it because Siri knows how to hide a dead body. Also said "oh no the condom broke" and she pointed. me to the nearest drug store. Very intuitive software that is a true first. I asked her for stock prices and she pulls them up. Ask for Chinese food and then pulls up all locations around you. Said the dog crapped on the rug and she recommended local dog kennals! Siri is creepy because it knows what you are talking about 99 percent of the time.

Had an iPhone now the 4S. Works great but I found the LED notification only works with text or phone not email. A while back I had a Droid and it had a multi color LED on the face. Much. Better idea not sure why Apple did not pick up on this one feature. I will live without it because Siri knows how to hide a dead body. Also said "oh no the condom broke" and she pointed. me to the nearest drug store. Very intuitive software that is a true first. I asked her for stock prices and she pulls them up. Ask for Chinese food and then pulls up all locations around you. Said the dog crapped on the rug and she recommended local dog kennals! Siri is creepy because it knows what you are talking about 99 percent of the time.

I put my phone on its face all the time. I don't want people seeing my incoming messages. I have a screen protector and a case with an edge around it. I also know several people that lie their phone screen down. So it's very normal. Smh

This is not even 4G phone. $100 for what. Some lame speech recognition software, which does not work well with people speaking with accent. I would like to see German or Korean to successfully use Siri. This phone feature is pretty much useless outside USA. I just got my Blackberry 9810 and got it for .01 plus I am getting $100 worth of free apps for last week network RIM network problems. :)

I just got rid of my blackberry.. and while there are some features that i miss (like the LED and this is a worthless feature on the iPhone, it olnly flashes ONCE!) the iPhone is hands down a MUCH better phone. Maybe after the QNX (BBX) phones come out and look good i will go back, but right now i am happy with my switch

When my wife is at work, she has to keep her phone silent and relied on the indicator light from her BB to let her know when she had a new message or missed call. Her iPhone flashes the LED once but if she isn't looking at that moment then she doesn't know there's a message. Is there any way to make the LED flash more than once?

I've tried everying listed herein to get my LED flash to work. Nothing works. The camera flash works fine when taking a picture. Settings > General > LED Flash for Alerts is "on". I'm at so frustrated. I attend lots of meetings and rely on the LDE flash to alert me. Can someone please, please, help me resolve this issue?

Took me a while to figure this out. It only works after auto-lock kicks in. You know after you let your phone sit for a couple of minutes the screen will go black to save battery and then you have to unlock it. When the screen is dark, or black or locked and someone calls you, then it will work. To try this, press the button on the top of your phone to make the screen go dark and then have someone call you from another phone. This should do it.